GABRIELLE K. BYRNE writes MG/YA fantasy in Olympia, Washington where she lives with her husband and two daughters. Gabby studied opera in Philadelphia, medieval studies in New York, literature in Scotland, and marine biology in the Pacific Northwest, but writing is the common thread that ties all her passions together. Her debut, RISE OF THE DRAGON MOON, comes out in winter, 2019 with Imprint/Macmillan. She … Continue reading Alumni
I find myself, to my surprise, writing a novel in verse. Though I have written poetry in the past, novels in verse always seemed mysterious to me, almost as much so as the work of those sorcerer illustrators. How does one write a story, with narrative, out of a poem? How do you even begin a novel in verse? Eking out one poem feels like … Continue reading The Two Pieces of Advice that Made Writing A Verse Novel Seem Possible
I’m thrilled to announce a new anthology available today: RAISED BY UNICORNS: STORIES FROM PEOPLE WITH LBGTQ+ PARENTS. And even more excited that our own Kate Hillyer has an essay featured inside. In recent years, the world has been saturated by endless blogs, articles, and books devoted to the subject of LGBTQ+ parenting. On the flip side, finding stories written by the children of LGBTQ+ … Continue reading Interview with Kate Hillyer: Raised by Unicorns: Stories from People with LGBTQ+ Parents
Dear The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher, I’ve been working on a series of posts on books that shaped me, and this month, I want to highlight Dana Alison Levy’s THE MISADVENTURES OF THE FAMILY FLETCHER. The Fletchers are a two-dad, four-son, two-to-four-pet household. The brothers are all adopted. Two are white, one is African-American, and one is Indian. The best part is that all … Continue reading Dear The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher
We are coming to the end of another Poetry Month, and we would be remiss to let it go without highlighting a staggering new work by Nikki Grimes. ONE LAST WORD is an ode to the Harlem Renaissance, but also thoroughly modern. It utilizes the Golden Shovel form, in which a line from a previous poem, or the entire text of a short poem, is … Continue reading Windows & Mirrors: One Last Word
I’ve been writing love letters to books that shaped me, as a person and as a writer, and for this month, it’s Karen Foxlee’s Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy. I so enjoyed this book, a dreamy and beautiful retelling of the Snow Queen. What I want to talk about today, though, is how it influenced my writing. I write contemporary fantasies, and love to come … Continue reading Dear Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy
Oh, this strange, wonderful, wise book. Every month, I’m writing a love letter to a book that has shaped me, and this month, it’s The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. For those poor souls who haven’t yet read this classic, it’s the story of Milo, who comes home from school one day to find a tollbooth addressed to him. He drives his toy car through … Continue reading Dear The Phantom Tollbooth
This is the second love letter in the series we’re doing about books that shaped us, as individuals and as writers. Last month, I wrote about a book that formed me as a person. This month, it’s the book that inspired me to write middle grade. I discovered Skellig, by David Almond, as an adult. I fell into it by accident, intrigued by its strange … Continue reading Dear Skellig
Welcome to a brand new series on The Winged Pen! Here, we write love letters to our favorite books—the ones that shaped us, as writers and as people. First up is the book that inspired me to start this series: Anne of Green Gables! In case you haven’t read it, L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables is the story of an orphan girl who, after … Continue reading Dear Anne of Green Gables
Adrienne Kress is so cool. She’s an actor, playwright, filmmaker, and director. She teaches drama to kids, and she has her own production company. Most importantly for our purposes here, she is an author, of fantastical middle grade adventure stories with daring girls and careful boys, absurd predicaments and narrow escapes. I first came to love Adrienne’s work when I read her book, ALEX AND … Continue reading Interview with Adrienne Kress
Welcome to this week’s Master Your Craft post! Each Wednesday we’ll discuss prewriting and drafting a new book from the BIG IDEA to QUERYING. Last week, we continued our series on character development with a Pantser’s Guide to Character Development. This week, we’ll share a method of using a long-form, messy synopsis to get early feedback from your critique partners. Because friends don’t let friends write … Continue reading MYC: Friends Don’t Let Friends Write Bad Books
I recently found myself in a writing rut. A hectic home life, a stressful and stressed-out world, and somehow writing became both trivial and inaccessible. I could not connect with my creativity, and it felt self-indulgent even to try. Over dinner, a wise friend suggested a poetry challenge. Write a poem a day for thirty days, to clean out the spiders of doubt and despair, … Continue reading My Month of Poetry
